Bellator pay-per-view set for May 17 with Alvarez-Chandler III headliner

Bellator’s first pay-per-view now has a date to go along with its headliner.

Bellator 120 is set for May 17 with the trilogy lightweight title fight between Eddie Alvarez (25-3 MMA, 10-1 BMMA) and Michael Chandler (12-1 MMA, 9-1 BMMA) in the main event. Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney announced the date late Friday during the Spike TV broadcast of the promotion’s Season 10 debut, Bellator 110.

However, no venue or city was given for the event.

Rebney first confirmed news of a trilogy fight between the two 155-pounders on a media call earlier this year.

This past November, Rebney told MMAjunkie that a third fight between the two was a near-lock for the company’s first pay-per-view event. In fact, the second fight between Alvarez (25-3 MMA, 10-1 BMMA) and Chandler (12-1 MMA, 9-1 BMMA) was supposed to be the co-main event of Bellator’s first pay-per-view before the promotion scrapped plans for pay TV to put Bellator 106 on its normal Spike TV home.

“I’m very motivated,” Chandler, who now finds himself in the challenger role, said on Friday’s broadcast. “The last fight left a bitter taste in my mouth, and I’m excited to do it again.”

While Alvarez was left to make adjustments from his loss in their first fight before the second, he said that won’t be the case this time.

“I think me and my team created a blueprint and a way to figure out Mike Chandler,” Alvarez said. “We’ll leave it up to his guys to make the adjustments this time.”

Alvarez and Chandler first met in November 2011 when Alvarez was lightweight champion. In a major upset, Chandler stopped him with a fourth-round submission in a bout that was many peoples’ pick for “Fight of the Year.”

Chandler went on to defend the the title twice after that with stoppages, while Alvarez won another pair of fights, but then got mired in a messy legal battle with Bellator over his contract after he pursued free agency.

After mending fences and settling differences enough to get back to work, Alvarez was given a title rematch with Chandler at Bellator 106. And there, he won a split decision to recapture the title.